ATROCITIES ON WOMEN AND ITS

SOLUTION
MEANING AND SCOPE:
Atrocities and Violence against women (AVAW), also known as gender-based violence, is,
collectively, violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Sometimes
considered a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as
a primary motive. This type of violence is gender-based, meaning that the acts of violence are
committed against women expressly because they are women. The UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women states that:

"Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men
and women" and that "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which
women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."

The problem of violence and atrocities against women in India is one important problem relating
to women who cannot be ignored. Women in the Indian society have been victims of humiliation,
torture and exploitation for as long as we have written records of social organization and family
life. Today, though women are being gradually recognized as important, power-ful and meaningful
contributors to the life of men; but some of the cruel practices thrive even today.

INSTANCES OF ATROCITIES:

Pregnant women are either persuaded or forced to undergo abortion if the babies in the
womb are detected to be females through sonography, only to avoid bringing up of girl
children and bear huge expenses for their marriage.
New born female children are brutally killed by parents or other members of the family
and thrown as wastes if they could not be aborted before birth not only for rearing
burdensome creatures but also for satisfying their caustic desire for having only the male
children who will be the future bread earners and shall be the heirs to advance their
family for future generations,.
Girl children in several parts of the country are not allowed to go to school for study and
they are engaged in household or field work. In many cases they are engaged as maid
servants for earning money for the family or sold out as bonded labour to rich people.
 Girl children are abducted and sold to the brokers for trading in the whore market.
School and college going girls are very often subjected to eave teasing, kidnapping, rape,
rape and murder.
In many families daughters are not given equal treatment in upbringing as given to their
sons.
If a woman is divorced or estranged by the husband for any reason after marriage, her
misery crosses all limits by making her life extremely unbearable. Not only her
neighbourers, friends, relatives but also her parents in many cases never hesitate to cast
slur on her and treat her as if an unwanted entity in the family/society.
If a woman is raped or kidnapped and then released, her living in the society becomes
awful and everyone looks down upon her as if she has committed a grievous sin willfully.
Working women, in most cases are subjected to sexual harassment at their respective
working places and outside..

SOLUTION:
If all women develop a spirit of fellow feeling by placing themselves in the shoes of victims or
aggrieved women and unite to protest or counter or fight or raise strong voice against all types of
oppression, I think they can catalyze a novel metamorphosis in the society and curb atrocities on
women to a great extent. If some progressive women come forward to form Mahila Jagaran
Manch (MJM) and spread it throughout the length and breadth of the country with a view to
provide protection and help to women in distress. Unlike the National Commission for Women
the MJM should grow voluntarily in every village and in every residential blocks in towns and
cities through awareness campaign being conducted and monitored by some progressive
benevolent ladies so that the women folk at large can master courage to come out to join MJM and
face any turbulent situation confronting them boldly.

Women in India have been victims of violence from many years in almost all the societies, regions,
cultures and religious communities. Women in the Indian society have to bear variety of violence
such as domestic, public, physical, social, emotional and mental. Violence against women is
clearly seen in the history to a large extent which is still getting practiced without any positive
change. Women in India were enjoying a quite comfortable position all through the Vedic period
however, the condition got declined gradually because of the practice of violence against women
all through the country. On the other hand, with the increasing level of violence against women
they started losing their educational, social, political, economic, and cultural opportunities in the
society.
They became restricted to live their normal lifestyle like healthy diet, wishful dress, marriage, etc.
It was huge effort of male dominated country to make women limited and obedient. They started
being enslaved and prostituted. Women in India started being used as commodities for the men to
perform different functions of daily routine. There is a culture in the society for women to
understand husband as a God, keep fast for their wellness and be depended on husbands. Widows
were restricted to marry again and forced to follow sati pratha. Men understood their rights to beat
women with rope or a bamboo stick. Violence against woman took a very fast speed when young
girls were forced to serve as a Devadasi in the temple. It given rise to the prostitution system as a
part of the religious life.

The fight of two major cultures (Islam and Hinduism) in the medieval period has increased the
violence against women to a great extent. Young girls were forced to marry in the very early age
and follow purdah system in the society. It made them isolated from almost whole world except
their husband and family. Polygamy with strong roots was also started in the society and women
lose their right of having unshared husbands love. Female infanticide, dowry system and bride-
killings are other big violence. Women are also facing lack of nutritious food, negligence to
medicine and proper checkup, lack of educational opportunities, sexual abuse of girl child, rapes,
forced and unwanted marriages, sexual harassment at public, home or work place, unwanted
pregnancies at small intervals, bride-burning, wife-battering, negligence of old women in family,
etc.

In order to reduce the number of offenses and crimes against women in India, another Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) law, 2015 has been made by the Indian government. It
is done so to replace the earlier Indian juvenile delinquency law of 2000 especially after the
Nirbhaya case during which an accused juvenile was released. In this act, the juvenile age has been
reduced by two years means 16 years from 18 years in cases of heinous offenses.

Violence against women in India is very old social issue which has taken its root deeply to the
societal norms and economic dependence. This issue of violence against women come forth time
to time in the form of brutal gang-rape, sexual harassment at work place, acid attack, etc. A big
incident of violence against women was happened in Delhi on 16th of December in 2012. It was a
brutal gang rape of the 23 year old woman in India. A huge crowd of anger people come out to the
street by having a call for change. Even after happening such type of cases regularly in the society,
it is not going to change the societal norms against women. It is going very complex and deeply
rooted in the Indian society even after increasing education level of the people. Violence against
women happens because of inefficient legal justice system, weak rules of law and male dominated
social and political structures.

According to the research it is found that violence against women begins at home in the early age
especially in the rural areas by the family members, relatives, neighbors, and friends.
Situation of the women varies all over the country according to the place, culture and tradition of
people. Women in the north-eastern provinces and south have better position than other regions.
Because of the practice of female infanticide, the number of girl child has been very less in
comparison to the male child (almost 940 women to 1000 men according to the 2011 census). Such
a huge decrease in the percentage of female child is because of the sex-selective abortions and
negligence of young girls during infancy.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, women in India are very much unsafe in their
marital home. Other common violence against women in the society are domestic violence, acid
attacks, rape, honor killings, dowry deaths, abduction, and brutal behavior by husbands and in-
laws.

AUTHOR:
Tejas Pandey